It was such an incredible experience for Mclaren Lighting to be a part of the development of JENEECE PLACE – and to help fulfill an inspiring young girls dream.  This truly is an amazing story.  The dream belongs to a young girl named Jeneece Edroff – and now her dream has come true.  Mclaren Lighting was proud to be able to donate the lighting  for JENEECE PLACE.  We wanted to thank our generous suppliers Kuzco Lighting, Hinkley Lighting, Ortech Lighting and  Hubbardton Forge Lighting for “jumping on board”.

Jeneece Edroff was diagnosed at age 3 with neurofibromatosis, a debilitating genetic disease.  She was required to have many operations in Vancouver to which her and her family would travel over to the mainland.  They were fortunate to be able to stay – for some trips – at Ronald McDonald House.  However, there was no such facility in Victoria.

She set out to change that and put her dream in motion by starting with a “simple penny drive”.  She quickly became known as “the penny girl”.  Jeneece’s penny drive brought in over 1.5 million dollars.  With that achievement behind her – she set her sights on her new goal – which was JENEECE PLACE.

JENEECE PLACE is a 5.5 million dollar home away from home for children and families needing medical attention in Victoria B.C.

This 10 bedroom house has everything a worried family could want or ask for without the added burden as to where to stay.

It is located beside Victoria General Hospital and is a simple 2 minute walk to the front entrance.

It is operated by the Queen Alexandra Foundation and is open 24 hours a day throughtout the entire year.

They are expected to service over 600 families every year.

Every attention to detail has been covered to ease the pressure for families with sick children.

JENEECE PLACE completed on time and under budget and celebrated their Open House on January 20, 2012 with the first family to arrive the following week.  Mclaren Lighting’s Manager – Damien Olgivie and Mike McDougall from our Builder/Designer Division were able to attend the Open House.  Justus Lowry, Grasshut Media, took these great pictures so we could share them with you.

JENEECE PLACE truly offers families HOPE, STRENGTH and LOVE.  Such an amazing story of a young girls determination and dream – and of a community banding together to help make that dream come true.

All us at McLaren Lighting were honoured to be a part of Jeneece Place – as well as – proud to be a part of this generous community.

It definitely makes you stop and think….that with a little determination and a dream….anything is possible.

Welcome to Mclaren Lighting’s BLOG. We are very excited here at Mclaren Lighting to have our blog up and running. This blog is devoted to anything and everything related to lighting. We will cover the lastest industry trends and provide you with other helpful information about lighting and lighting fixtures.

To provide you with a bit of history – Mclaren Lighting is a family owned and operated company that has been serving the island for over 50 years.  There are store locations in Victoria B.C. and Nanaimo B.C.  Owner Finn Finnigan started as an employee in the warehouse over 50 years ago.  He worked his way up to Manager before purchasing the company from Basil Mclaren in 1975.

Since opening its doors in 1960 - Mclaren Lighting has grown and expanded. Back when Finn started there were 3 employees and 200 product items. Flash forward to today and we have 46 employees and over 5000 product items.

 Both of Finn Finnigan’s sons Dave Finnigan – General Manager, Victoria and Craig Finnigan – General Manager,  Nanaimo decided to follow in their Dad’s footsteps and started working…as he did…in the warehouse.  All three share a passion for lighting.

As well, we have an incredible staff which share the same passion and are instrumental in helping the whole operation run smoothly.  We are so proud of our staff and how hard each and everyone of them work.  We really pride ourselves on our service, the knowledge that we can provide you and our amazing selection.  We never stop searching for evolving ideas to help you light your home.  We are also fortunate to be part of the largest buying group in Western Canada…which enables us to provide our customer with the best possible value.  If I know one thing for sure…here at Mclaren Lighting….WE LOVE LIGHTS!

 So what made us decide to create a blog?  Well, this year we decided to update our website.  This would not have been possible without the help from Justus Lowry at Grasshut Media www.grasshutmedia.com.  We were able to encorporate a lot of helpful information for our customers.  As a customer - you can view our  suppliers product and prices.  You can create your very own “wish list” and forward it to us.  You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter with “hot of the presses”  product information.

With all of the above being so successful…we decided that a blog would be a great way to keep our customers informed and updated on what’s new…what’s hot…and what’s happening in the lighting world.